Page 50 of Dance with the Devil

I still won’t talk to Damien, and I made it clear that until I get into contact with Cross, I’m not changing my mind.

My brother isn’t the only one I’m avoiding, either. In fact, if it wasn’t for Savannah being Orion’s owner, I’m stubborn enough to lock myself in my room and not to a single soul while I work through my trauma and obsess over what the hell Cross is doing since he’s not with me.

I’ve never been a pet person, but that was because Damien wasn’t. I used to beg when I was a kid for a cat or a dog, but he rightly pointed out that his job keeps him busy, ballet keeps me busy, and it wouldn’t be fair for any animal to be adopted, then neglected.

Orion came with Savannah when she moved her. While she was plotting her way out again—which was as obvious as it was when Savannah fell for Damien and decided to stay—Orion roamed over the entire manor like he owned it. That included my studio and my bedroom, and the first time he scratched at my door after I closed it, I realized that while I could keep the humans out, it wasn’t fair to do that to Orion.

And, with Orion in here, eventually Savannah finds her way to my room, too.

Today she comes in under the pretense to make sure Orion’s doing okay, and once she sees he’s sprawled out on the end of my bed with me, she gives me a knowing look.

“So,” she begins, rocking back on her heels, hands in the back of her jeans pockets, “are you ready to sit down and talk to your brother yet?”

“Depends? Will Damien let me see Cross first?” I toss back.

I try not to pay too much attention to the little voice in the back of my head that says, if Cross wanted to seeme, he’d find a way. He doesn’t have an older brother keeping him basically trapped inside. He could be here…

Savannah sighs, settling back on her feet. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

I flash her a half-smile. “Agree to disagree then. But until I can hear Cross tell me that he wants to keep his distance himself, I have nothing to say to my brother.”

Usually, Savannah won’t push it. I’m sure Damien is using her as a go-between with Savannah reporting everything I say back to him so that he can give the illusion that he’s respecting my wishes by not imposing on me in my personal space.

But something’s different today. I noticed it when she walked in, a little more hesitant than before, like she has something on her mind.

And then she says softly, “We know what happened between the two of you right before you two got rescued,” and my heart just about stops.

Though I know the answer already, I can’t stop myself from asking, “How?”

“He sent a video.”

Those goddamn cameras. I knew Cross wouldn’t have told my brother about it, but Winter… that fuckerwould. Hell, hetold me that video was made specifically to mess with my brother. I should’ve known, but excuse me if that was part of my trauma I needed desperately to block out.

Can’t now.

Savannah’s expression is so apologetic and reminiscent of Cross’s, I want to scream, but instead I listen as she adds, “Devil’s guy traced it when we got the file, but it came from the facility where you were kept.”

So no help there. At least, if he was gonna send revenge porn of me out to my older brother, he could’ve had the decency to let himself be tracked down by it.

I force another smile to my lips. “Tell Dame we’re even.”

Savannah frowns. “Even? For what?”

I shrug. “I saw more than I ever wanted of you two. Now you guys watched me lose my virginity.”

“We didn’t watch, Gen,” she says softly. “As soon as your brother realized what the video was going to show, he turned it off. He threatened all kinds of unholy things if anyone ever saw it. Tanner traced it, then deleted every single megabyte of that file. It’s like it never existed.”

Damien tried something like that once. I fell during a performance, and as an admittedly dramatic teenager, I declared my life over when I saw the clip circulating online. He tried everything he could to get it erased, but since it’s still up now if you knew where to look, he wasn’t successful.

“The internet is forever.”

“Tanner Maguire says otherwise,” is Savannah’s firm retort. “But now I understand why you refused to let the doctor do a rape kit on you?—”

I fist my hands at my side. “I wasn’t raped, Savannah.”

“I know,” she says, and if she’s just trying to calm me before I start throwing pillows around my room again, that’s fine. Regardless, I’m not going to let anyone think Cross did anythingto me that I didn’t want him to. “But I have to ask… was there protection?”

If she’d watched the video, she would’ve known there wasn’t. I shake my head.

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